Cairo to Salem, prehistory to present in "The State of Southern Illinois"
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[Herbert K. Russell will sign copies of his latest book, "The State of Southern Illinois: An Illustrated History," Saturday from 1 to 3 p.m. at the Barnes & Noble store in Carbondale.
"It covers Southern Illinois history from Salem south to Cairo from the laying down of the geologic foundations on up to the present," explained Russell. "After the geologic era we talk about the earliest inhabitants in Southern Illinois which seems to be the Mississippi culture of Indians over at Cahokia Mounds. We get into the later Indians also, those that the white settlers met and also deal with some of the details of the white settlement."
Russell described the book as "a revisionist history which focuses especially on the Civil War and stereotypes that have characterized Southern Illinois involvement in the Civil War."
One of those stereotypes he targets is the myth, he says, that the region supported the Confederacy during the Civil War.
After reviewing the muster rolls for the region's military units and comparing it to what he found about Confederate sympathizers he said there was no evidence of "an army of Southern Illinoisans that went south to fight for the South."
The most he could find was a group of 34 men from Jackson and Williamson counties that joined the 15th Tennessee Infantry early in 1861. That group included John A. Logan's brother-in-law.
"That number turned out only to be 34 men leaving as a group," he said.
"I found the most interesting sections to research were the role of how railroads helped shape Southern Illinois. Most every town that's still in existence owe their existence to the railroads," he said.
The development of the Illinois Central Railroad in the 1850s from Chicago to Cairo created the communities of Centralia, DuQuoin, Carbondale and Anna as new retail and population centers in competition with the existing county seats.
Those railroad towns after the war helped in the development of Southern Illinois and the original siting of what became Southern Illinois University.
Russell feels that the region has evolved into a better place in the last half century.
"The old Southern Illinois of isolation and gangster and lawlessness when coal mining dominated ended in the 1960s. That old Illinois is long gone," he noted.
The new region is "less isolationist" and "more sophisticated."
"Life is better, if generally less interesting," he noted compared to the lawlessness found during the days of Prohibition and the mine wars.
The book includes more than 220 photographs which he feels are key.
"Most are modern and in color but some are historic photographs," he explained adding that it also includes 18 maps.
"I wrote it to be understood by those who are interested in the region, but not necessarily history professors. I did include sources on anything contentious," he said.
Russell, who retired from John A. Logan College, has previously published "A Southern Illinois Album" of Farm Security Administration photographs of the 1930s, and "Edgar Lee Masters: A Biography."
The book is available at local booksellers and through SIU Press at siupress.com. The 220-page hardcover book retails at $39.95.